Embodiments described herein relate to apparatus and methods for vehicle structural or semi-structural components enabling tunable deceleration characteristics therein. For example, embodiments described herein relate to a vehicle structural or semi-structural component comprising a body, wherein at least a portion of the body includes a flexible reinforcement material over-molded within a polymer composite material.
Crash sensors are mounted on the vehicle structural or semi-structural components for detecting deceleration due to a crash in order to deploy safety devices such as, for example, air bags. As such there is a continued need for improved safety device deployment control.